Page 14 of Hallow’s Eve
“They questioned you?”
“First thing.”
“What did you say?”
“I’m just here to party.” His eyes returned to my face. “Actually, the truth is, I just hung around waiting on you.”
“You didn’t tell them that?”
“No. I didn’t.”
“Did you find out anything?”
“They say Grady’s dead body was found in the walk-in freezer about an hour ago.”
“Really?” I put my finger to my lips.
“They’re thinking it happened after midnight.”
“That’s a lot of new information.”
“You’ve just got to know what to ask.”
“Well, let’s go ask around.”
“Hold on. Those bikers are already doing that. The killer is not just going to give themselves away,” Hallow strained.
“Then what do we do?”
“We’ll just go hang out with your coworkers. Who do you think we should start with?”
“I don’t think anyone who works here would kill Grady.”
“When someone’s murdered, the authorities always suspect the wife or the girlfriend.”
“His ex-wife works here.”
“Anyone else he’s dating?”
“No.” I didn’t want to mention Grady’s thing for me. “We’ll go talk to Celie.”
Donette was still getting it on with Beetlejuice, but they’d changed positions. Her face was pressed against the wall, Beetlejuice was behind her, and I couldn’t tell where he was sticking it.
Hallow and I stepped back out into the dark. We found Celie at a corner table, sitting under a big photo of Tammy Wynette. She’d taken off the Bride of Frankenstein wig. Louis and Terry, two of our cooks comforted her. Louis had lost his blond Joe Exotic mullet, but Terry couldn’t take off his because it was real. Celie dabbed her eyes with a napkin as Louis rubbed her back.
I approached her carefully. “How are you holding up, Celie?”
“I’m alright,” she said.
I believed her. If Grady were indeed dead, she’d be more livid than anything. This was hard. I’d never been to a murder mystery dinner before let alone a surprise Halloween one. I tried my best to play along. “Do you know what happened?”
“They won’t let me see the body,” Celie snapped.
Terry chimed in, “They won’t let anyone see it.”
“Who found him?” I asked.
Louis answered me, “Earl. The big guy called them right away. He wouldn’t let anyone in the freezer.”
